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However, only in 1977 did Vice President Walter Mondale (under President Jimmy Carter) use the Naval Observatory as a primary residence for the first time. In medieval Europe, kings and other lords were frequently known for the impressiveness and strength of their castles. Did America always have the White House, and has it always looked the way it appears today?
James A. Garfield (
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Responding to charges that she had stolen government property when she left the White House, she angrily inventoried all the items she had taken with her, including gifts of quilts and waxworks from well-wishers. Get HISTORY’s most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week. The US Secret Service, created to fight counterfeiting, only began protecting the president in 1901, making it the only federal law enforcement agency with a distinct dual mandate. Every president, beginning with Theodore Roosevelt, has received Secret Service protection, with Roosevelt having a two-agent guard. In 1922, a uniformed protectorate was created for the White House, and in 1977 it was renamed the Secret Service Uniformed Division.
Building the White House
The Roosevelt renovation was planned and carried out by the famous New York architectural firm McKim, Mead and White. Roosevelt’s successor, President William Howard Taft, had the Oval Office constructed within an enlarged office wing. The White House is the official office and residence of the president of the United States.
How much land does the White House and its grounds cover?
Eight years later, in 1909, President William Howard Taft expanded the West Wing and created the first Oval Office, which was eventually moved and expanded. In the Executive Residence, the third floor attic was converted to living quarters in 1927 by augmenting the existing hip roof with long shed dormers. A newly constructed East Wing was used as a reception area for social events; Jefferson's colonnades connected the new wings. The East Wing alterations were completed in 1946, creating additional office space. By 1948, the residence's load-bearing walls and wood beams were found to be close to failure.
On July 16 President Washington examined at least six designs submitted in the competition. James Hoban, an Irishman whom the president had met a year earlier in Charleston, won the contest. Every president since John Adams has occupied the White House, and the history of this building extends far beyond the construction of its walls. Less than fifty years after the Roosevelt renovation, the White House was already showing signs of serious structural weakness. President Harry S. Truman began a renovation of the building in which everything but the outer walls was dismantled.
Construction of the White House
Moreover, the wages of all White House employees—as well as the expenses for running the White House, including staging official functions—were paid for by the president. Not until 1909 did Congress provide appropriations to pay White House servants. During the 19th century the White House became a symbol of American democracy. In the minds of most Americans, the building was not a “palace” from which the president ruled but merely a temporary office and residence from which he served the people he governed. The White House belonged to the people, not the president, and the president occupied it only for as long as the people allowed him to stay. The idea of a president refusing to leave the White House after losing an election or an impeachment trial was unthinkable.
A History of the White House: The US President’s Home
The cornerstone was laid on October 13, 1792, and over the next eight years a construction team comprised of both enslaved and freed African Americans and European immigrants built the Aquia Creek sandstone structure. It was coated with lime-based whitewash in 1798, producing a color that gave rise to its famous nickname. Built at a cost of $232,372, the two-story house was not quite completed when John Adams and Abigail Adams became the first residents on November 1, 1800. Jefferson also improved the presidential grounds from a barren site that had been left after construction of the White House.
Instead, Hoban was brought back to rebuild it nearly from scratch, in some areas incorporating the original, charred walls. Upon reassuming residency in 1817, James Madison and his wife Dolley gave the home a more regal touch by decorating with extravagant French furniture. Under the July 1790 Residence Act, the national capital moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for a 10-year period, while the permanent national capital was under construction in the District of Columbia. The house was rented for one year at an annual rent of $845, but the president vacated it after ten months when a larger residence became available.
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On the morning of July 19, 1792, three volunteer commissioners that Washington had appointed to oversee the building of the federal city—Daniel Carroll, Thomas Johnson, and David Stuart—watched Hoban stake out the foundations of the President’s House. He had trouble doing so, as L’Enfant’s plan called for a much larger palace; the cellars already dug out swallowed up the footprint of Hoban’s house. Hoban and the commissioners left it up to George Washington, the former surveyor, to locate the north wall. Hoban made the adjustments and directed laying out the wall foundations from a post designated by Washington that indicated the center of the North Front door. Was the perfect spot for the U.S. captial, but its selection was controversial. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton and others wanted the capital to be located in a northern commercial center.
Under Harry S. Truman, the interior rooms were completely dismantled and a new internal load-bearing steel frame was constructed inside the walls. The Madisons eventually moved into the nearby Octagon House, the Washington mansion of John Tayloe, a Virginia plantation owner. Reconstruction and expansion began under Hoban’s direction, but the building was not ready for occupancy until 1817, during the administration of Pres.
Instead, Washington and his secretary of state, Thomas Jefferson, decided that the design would be chosen through a national competition. The residence was designed by Irish-born architect James Hoban in the Neoclassical style.[4] Hoban modeled the building on Leinster House in Dublin, a building which today houses the Oireachtas, the Irish legislature. Construction took place between 1792 and 1800, with an exterior of Aquia Creek sandstone painted white. Reconstruction began almost immediately, and President James Monroe moved into the partially reconstructed Executive Residence in October 1817. Exterior construction continued with the addition of the semicircular South Portico in 1824 and the North Portico in 1829.
There were still finishing touches to be done on the structure when Adams moved into the White House, but items from his home in Philadelphia were already set up in his new home. According to White House History, enslaved laborers worked in quarries to provide the building materials used for the White House. They also worked with immigrants from European countries, as well as white laborers and artisans. After eight years of construction, the White House was finally finished on November 1, 1800. In the 1796 elections, John Adams won over Thomas Jefferson, and he became the second president of the United States. Beautiful landscaping has graced the White House grounds since the administration of Thomas Jefferson.
August of 1814 saw British raids along America’s coast, with the Brits emboldened by their recent defeat of Napoleon in Europe and a desire to keep the United States focused away from Canada. On August 24, the British defeated the Americans at the Battle of Bladensburg and then moved on to Washington DC. In retaliation for the American burning of York, Ontario the previous year, the British forces set fire to the White House, the Capitol, and other government buildings.
Twenty-five years later, it was moved to the southeast corner of the building, overlooking the Rose Garden. Despite the building being modernized for innovations like the Internet and Wi-Fi, most presidents since 1880 have used the Resolute desk, which was given as a gift by Queen Elizabeth from the wood of the H.M.S. Resolute. Incoming presidents typically redecorate the Oval Office according to their individual tastes, often selecting historic artifacts from previous administrations to reinstate. While George Washington chose the site and design of the White House, he did not ever live in the residence. John Adams was the first president to live in the White House, moving in on November 1st, 1800. The executive mansion has been the official residence of every subsequent president.
Washington moved to the Alexander Macomb House at 39–41 Broadway, which he occupied from February 23 to August 30, 1790. 1791 To appease northern and southern interests, President George Washington selects the site for the capital city. We'll be in touch with the latest information on how President Biden and his administration are working for the American people, as well as ways you can get involved and help our country build back better. The stone exterior of the building was first painted with a lime-based whitewash in 1798 to protect it from the elements and freezing temperatures.
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